Reckless drivers have been caught using FaceTime and watching movies at the wheel by police officers who patrolled the M40 in unmarked lorries.
The law-breaking motorists were captured on film by Warwickshire Police as part of Operation Tramline, a national campaign in which officers use HGVs to locate drivers who could pose a risk on the road.
In one shocking clip, officers caught a HGV driver who was watching a movie on his mobile phone as he drove on the M40 near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
Footage captures an officer as he tells his colleagues: ‘He is watching his film, in front of his steering wheel, he still hasn’t noticed us.
In one shocking clip, Warwickshire Police caught a HGV driver who was watching a movie on his mobile phone as he drove on the M40 near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
‘The reason he’s on the hard shoulder all the time is because he’s watching a film. He’s still looking down, he’s glanced up and now looking down. All of this is on camera.
‘I can see the phone but I can’t see what film it is. It’s obviously an amusing one because he’s laughing. He’s engrossed in his film.’
The driver eventually realises he has been spotted by police and he pulls in while officers from a patrol car approach the vehicle.
In another case, a trucker is caught using FaceTime while driving on the M40.
Video from the incident captures an officer as he explains: ‘The one next to us is FaceTiming. He is holding the phone in his left hand and I can see a good lady on the other end on the screen.
In another case, a trucker is caught using FaceTime while driving on the M40. Pictured: The motorist
The driver then gets himself into more trouble when he picks up a drink and spots the cops, before taking his other hand off the wheel to give a ‘thumbs up’ gesture
‘He is FaceTiming as we speak which is why he is all over the road.’
The driver then gets himself into more trouble when he picks up a drink and spots the cops, before taking his other hand off the wheel to give a ‘thumbs up’ gesture.
A third clip captures a woman driving a Range Rover Evoque while texting on the M40 near Solihull, West Midlands.
After realising she was caught, the woman makes a rude gesture to the officers before speeding off.
An officer said: ‘She’s on her phone and texting away. She’s now reading her messages and looking down and interacting with her phone.
‘She has now looked up and seen me and is now swearing. Gentleman there is a lady in lane two who is about to go for it now. She’s seen me filming her using her phone and is now taking off.’
Pictured: A lorry driver on the M40 is seen using a mobile phone will both hands off the wheel
During the operation, those in smaller vehicles were also captured using their phones at the wheel
A patrol car which is following the lorry chases after her before pulling her over.
During the same operation in March, Warwickshire Police detected almost 200 driver offences in five days.
These 194 offences were identified from 154 vehicles, 42 per cent of which were from large commercial vehicles compared to 58 per cent from smaller commercial and private cars.
Twenty-seven mobile phone offences were captured with two separate HGV drivers filmed using FaceTime whilst driving on the M40.
Operation Tramline is in collaboration with Highways England.
Pictured: An unmarked police HGV like the one used in Operation Tramline in Warwickshire
Between 2018 and last year, a total of 36 people were killed and another 322 were injured in road crashes in Warwickshire
Between 2018 and last year, a total of 36 people were killed and another 322 were injured in road crashes in Warwickshire.
Elsewhere, near Newbury in Berkshire, a motorist was jailed in 2016 after he killed a mother and three children because he was distracted by his phone.
Polish lorry driver Tomasz Kroker was sentenced to ten years after killing Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11.
Footage from inside his lorry cab showed Kroker, 30, scrolling through music on his mobile for seven seconds before he ploughed into stationary traffic at 50mph.
Mrs Houghton’s Vauxhall Corsa was shunted under the trailer of another lorry and crushed to a third of its size in the crash on August 10 on the A34.